spend,cost,take和pay都可以表示“花費”,但用法卻不盡相同.
spend的主語必須是人, 常用于以下結(jié)構(gòu)：(1) spend time ／money on sth. 在……上花費時間（金錢）.例：I spent two hours on this maths problem. 這道數(shù)學(xué)題花了我兩個小時.(2) spend time ／ money (in) doing sth. 花費時間（金錢）做某事.例：They spent two years (in) building this bridge. 造這座橋花了他們兩年時間.(3)spend money for sth. 花錢買…….例：His money was spent for books. 他的錢用來買書了.
cost的主語是物或某種活動, 還可以表示“值”, 常見用法如下：(1)sth. costs (sb.) ＋金錢,某物花了（某人）多少錢.例：A new computer costs a lot of money. 買一臺新電腦要花一大筆錢.(2) (doing) sth. costs (sb.) ＋時間,某物（做某事）花了（某人）多少時間.例：Remembering these new words cost him a lot of time. 他花了大量時間才記住了這些單詞.
注意：cost的過去式及過去分詞都是cost,并且不能用于被動句.
take后面常跟雙賓語, 常見用法有以下幾種：(1) It takes sb. ＋時間＋to do sth. 做某事花了某人多少時間.例：It took them three years to build this road. 他們用了三年時間修完了這條路.(2)doing sth. takes sb. ＋時間,做某事花了某人多少時間.例：Repairing this car took him the whole afternoon. 他花了一下午修車.
pay的基本用法是：(1) pay (sb.) money for sth. 付錢（給某人）買…….例：I have to pay them 20 pounds for this room each month. 我每個月要付20英磅的房租.(2)pay for sth. 付……的錢.例：I have to pay for the book lost. 我不得不賠丟失的書款.(3)pay for sb. 替某人付錢.例：Don?蒺t worry!I'll pay for you. 別擔(dān)心, 我會給你付錢的.(4)pay sb. 付錢給某人. 例: They pay us every month.他們每月給我們報酬.（5）pay money back 還錢.例：May I borrow 12 yuan from you? I'll pay it back next week. 你能借給我12塊錢嗎?下周還你.（6）pay off one's money還清錢